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Thursday, October 23, 2014

Happy happy birthday to our little peanut! I cannot believe just one year ago we were welcoming you into this world. You bring so much joy and happiness to our lives that we truly cannot imagine our world without you in it.

Enjoy your day sweet girl, mommy and daddy love you more than you'll ever know!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

One of the things I had always planned on doing from the day Nora was born was making tons and tons of baby clothes and dresses for her. Now that didn't exactly go as planned, as to date I have made exactly three dresses (including these two Geranium dresses), but when her first pictures were just around the corner I decided she HAD to wear a handmade dress by her momma.

I had purchased a bundle of patterns from Ginger Baby Patterns on Etsy a few months back and decided to make the Candy Girl Tiered Dress. I just love the gathered elastic top detail and the ruffled gathered sleeves. I was debating on a few fabric options and ultimately decided to cut into my Heather Ross Far Far Away bundle, because every little girl needs a pink unicorn dress in their life.

I just love the fabric flower detail, the dress is great on its own, but the center flower adds just the extra pop this dress needs. I would highly recommend this pattern, it was a breeze to sew together, oodles of step by step pictures and no pattern pieces! Everything is straight rectangular cuts of fabric, perfect for this quilter at heart. It was also a quick sew. I easily finished the dress in one nap time, having already prewashed my fabric ahead of time.

I'd say Nora is a fan! I know I missed my window of prime dress wearing weather this year, but I fully intend on wearing this dress through the rest of the fall with a long sleeved onesie and leggings, and I don't think Nora would object.

If you have any toddler sewing tutorials, I'd love to hear about them! I have my eye on the Little Pearl Dress that Sarah made for her little girl from the Liberty Love book I have on my shelf, now that Nora is big enough to wear the smallest size!

Friday, October 10, 2014

I'm still on my baby things sewing binge and next on the list were a set of changing pad covers. Throughout the past year as I was actually using the things I made for Nora and her nursery, there were of course a few things that I thought I absolutely would not be able to live without, that ended up hardly being used, and things that I found to be worth their weight in gold. I really tried to keep this in mind as I was sewing things for my new nephews on their way.

One of those things that I made and absolutely loved, and gets used multiple times daily were these changing pad covers I made using this Prudent Baby Tutorial. I have lost count of the amount of diapers I have changed on this changing pad, and thats probably a good thing, as I'm sure its an insanely high number, but at least when I am standing at that changing pad, wrestling my now almost one year old daughter, who apparently equates diaper changes to torture, as she channels her inner Houdini to escape, I can at least look at a pretty cover.

In addition to their super cuteness, I love the function that the two fabrics give, as its now pretty apparent which end is for the baby's head and which end is for the baby's dirty bottom. Because there is no doubt if this wasn't spelled out plain as day, I'm sure my husband would decide to change her the other direction, and that would be just gross. So we'll call these the daddy proof changing pad covers.

It is also imperative to have two covers in rotation at all times. And from what I hear this is even more so with having a boy, as the likelihood of a surprise "shower" increases 1000 fold compared to a girl. Two seems to be plenty, as at least for me it seems I am throwing in a load of laundry at least every other day. Seriously. Something so tiny amasses an amount of daily laundry that is just impressive.

I just love using minky or a soft cuddle fabric for the main body of these covers, they are so soft and just perfect for baby's skin, I just want to sit there and pet it! These covers are a super quick sew, I was able to put both covers together (I prewashed my fabrics ahead of time) in one naptime, so about 2 hours. Win!

I have a few lingering baby projects to tackle (helllllooo quilts! where are the quilts??!?) so rest assured, those are on the way!

Monday, October 6, 2014

I was tagged by my good quilty friend Ann to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop! Actually, I was supposed to write up this post for last week and you bet, I forgot. Luckily Ann sent me a little reminder email, or this post would have likely never seen the light of day, thanks again lady!!

Ann lives in Italy (but is from Canada) with her adorable little girl and hubby, so this blog hop has truly come around the world! Ann not only makes beautiful quilts, but also the most adorable clothes for her daughter Olivia. When Nora was born and my mind had its first thoughts of sewing, I went straight to Ann, as she knows oodles of great kids clothing patterns and tutorials. She led me to make the Geranium Dress, which I cannot recommend highly enough! She's way more brave than me, and has even tackled deciphering a Japanese print sewing book and made the cutest pair of shorts for Olivia. Thanks so much for involving me in this great blog hop Ann!

1. What am I working on?

Most recently I finished up this darling little dress for Nora's upcoming 1 year pictures. Lets talk for just a minute about how my little girl is going to be one year old later this month!

Thats how I feel about that.

Anyways, back to the dress. I haven't done any clothing sewing since the 2 Geranium dresses I made a few months back and decided it was time. I had purchased this Candy Girl Tiered Dress pattern a while ago and thought it would be perfect to cut into my Heather Ross Far Far Away fabrics for. I am absolutely in love with this little dress. Since I've snapped this pic I added the little fabric flower that is pictured in the pattern picture and it is just the little something extra this dress needed.

I've also been stitching all things baby for my two new nephews that are on their way! The most recent project were these changing pad covers for my sister in laws fire truck themed nursery. I love the covers I made for Nora's changing pad, and hopefully my sister in law likes these just as much! Up next are a few Divided Baskets and of course these little boys need quilts!

2. Why do I write/create what I do?

I think this is the simplest question to answer, and that's because I love it! It is my little sliver of me time that I get to head to my own little space and just make something. Life is a little bit different these days, and free time isn't something I have oodles of, or even have every day, so it just makes me happy to be able to spend a few moments working on something I love. In the past I've gotten bogged down with "commitment sewing", and while that's great to do when I can, I've really learned to say no and only take on commitments where I know I will love what I'm working on.

3. How does my writing/creative process work?

I sometimes think about what it would look like if I could snap a picture of what is running through my mind at any given time, either creatively or not, and I have to think it would just look like one of those crazy flow charts with arrows pointing in every direction connecting to different points and dots that is ever changing. At least creatively speaking I feel like my "process" is ever changing. Sometimes it starts with the need for an item.

I needed a new purse, so I tracked down a pattern I liked, found fabric I liked, and made it. Pretty straight forward.

Other times it's a particular fabric, or in this particular case, a group of quilt blocks that had been shelved for entirely too long, that the inspiration for a project emerges.

Sometimes I see a project through from start to finish without setting it aside for something else, and more often, like this case, I will pull a set of fabrics and set them aside for later use, or collect quilt blocks and set them aside, to work on a quilt top months years later to set that aside and put it together into a complete quilt at some to be determined point in the future.

I think I like it this way. While it might just seem like a disarray of started and stopped projects, it gives me a choice when I walk into my sewing room to sew about what sort of project I'm in the mood to work on. Something from scratch? Something half started? Something that just needs binding? Pretty sure I have one or more of each of those projects ready to be worked on. Of course it also makes my sewing room look like it a bomb went off, but we'll just call that a creativity hazard.

I'm going tag my neighbor and quilty friend Amy if she'd like to participate! This next hop won't be going nearly as far as from Italy to Pennsylvania, but it will be hopping down the street about two houses!

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All content including photos, text and tutorials on this site are property of Jessica Kelly unless otherwise noted. You do not need my permission to use my photos, quote what I say or talk about what I do, but please, pretty please credit me where appropriate by linking back to this blog. It's perfectly fine to sell individual items you made based on my designs, tutorials or patterns, but please do not reproduce or sell the patterns or tutorials themselves. Use of my photos for commercial purposes is not permitted. Thanks!